For information on the new Camp Tarawa "Boots on the Ground" tour go to Camp Tarawa Tour in the index bar at top of the page.

Morning colors 2nd Marine Division-Camp Tarawa 1944.

Marines and Navy Corpsman from Easy Company 2nd Battalion 28th Marines after raising the flags on Mt. Suribachi-Iwo Jima February 23, 1945.

Page updated September 26, 2014

Our detachment short history of old Camp Tarawa is now available in PDF format and can be be downloaded to your PC or Mac. It can be printed out or read on your PC or Mac monitor. If you are interested in receiving a copy by email please contact Kathy Painton at kathypainton@hotmail.com .

For some old Camp Tarawa History check out these pages on the index bar at the top of this page, 2nd and 5th Division for letters written by Marines that trained at Camp Tarawa, Roscoe's page for Sea Stories, and the Monument page for the history the Camp Tarawa Memorial.

Detachment Officers 2014/15

Bob Strickland

Senior Vice Commandant

Bill Hart

Junior Vice Commandant

Norm Stahl

Acting Judge Advocate

Aloha and Welcome to our Website

Our next scheduled meeting is on Saturday, December 19, 2015 at VFW Post 12122 in Kailua-Kona. Social Hour begins at noon and our business meeting starts at 13:00. Dress code is Resort Casual.

We usually meet the fourth Saturday of every month at the VFW Post in Kailua-Kona(except for the November Birthday Dinner) Contact our Commandant, Dale Ross (808) 322-2172 (daleross@hawaiiantel.net) or Kathy Painton (808) 880-9880 (kathypainton@hotmail.com) for more information on meeting location and time.

Camp Tarawa Memorial -- Parker Ranch -- The Big Island of Hawai'i

We start all our meetings with "On October 6, 2006, after more than 61 years, Marines and Navy Corpsmen have returned to Camp Tarawa."

Our Primary Mission: To keep alive the history of the men of the 2nd and 5th Marine Divisions who trained at old Camp Tarawa from December 1943 until the Camp was closed in November 1945 after the invasion of Iwo Jima.

Of the 55,000 Marines, Navy Corpsmen and Seabees who trained at Camp Tarawa, a total of 5,145 were killed in action or died of their wounds. 18,029 were wounded in action in the invasions of Saipan-Tinian and Iwo Jima.

Keeping this history alive is important because of the sacrifices they made in defense of our nation during WW II for our generation and generations to come. This is our way of thanking them!